RTI International (RTI), in collaboration with the University of North Carolina Center for Health Promotion and Disease Prevention and Dr. Frank Sloan from Duke University are pleased to submit this application to create an RTI-UNC Center of Excellence in Health Promotion Economics that unites economic theory and methods with health promotion and prevention methods and programs. Our intent is to create a Center that will advance the field of health promotion economics by advancing relevant health economic methods and training economists and public health practitioners in health economics methods. The Center will consist of three Cores. Management of the Center and communications with the CDC will be vested in an Administrative Core. The Economics Core will develop and refine economic methods and applications for health promotion economics. During the first 3 years of the Center, the Economics Core will focus on the economics of chronic diseases. The Translation Core will test economic theory in the context of health promotion, integrate economic tools and methods to ongoing health promotion interventions at UNC and RTI, and promote health economics in public health with dissemination and training activities for the broader public health community. The Economics Core will have the following specific aims: Aim 1. Develop and apply dynamic models for chronic diseases that build on existing epidemiologic data to illustrate how health outcomes and costs change in response to disease progression and changes in health behaviors; Aim 2. Refine cost-effectiveness and cost-of-illness methods for applications in chronic diseases; Aim 3. Study the role of economic incentives, disincentives, and barriers in the promotion of health in chronic diseases; and Aim 4. Advance the development of health promotion economics as an applied field in health economics. The Translation Core will have the following specific aims: Aim 1. Identify interests in and barriers to the application of economics in health promotion among researchers and practitioners; Aim 2. Develop and implement economic tools and toolkits for health promotion programs and interventions; Aim 3. Test economic theory within the context of health promotion of chronic diseases; and Aim 4. Promote health promotion economics in research and practice by developing, implementing, and disseminating salient information about health promotion economics to the public health community.